Madelia	Corn	Soybeans
Change	Bid	Change	Bid
May 12	10.50	6.48	-33.00	13.60
June 12	10.50	6.48	-33.00	13.60
July 12	10.50	6.48	-33.00	13.60
August 12	10.50	6.44	-25.00	13.12
October 12	8.75	4.99	-18.25	12.24
November 12	8.75	4.99	N/A	N/A
December 12	8.75	5.01	N/A	N/A
January 13	7.25	4.99	N/A	N/A

2011 Summer Grain Marketing Update

Published On:8/5/2011
Author:Ryan Brandts
Categories:Grain, Admin

Well I think most people would agree that saying this spring was a challenge is an extreme understatement. Producers have battled the weather from the beginning of planting all the way through the attempt to finish spraying. There are rarely many certainties in weather and markets, but I think it’s safe to say that this year they have been both volatile and unpredictable. With both weather and marketing being extremely important to the profitability of your operation, it is important we are exercising some risk management and taking advantage of the potential record profitability.

Market volatility continues to be the norm. In the last month, we rallied to new highs of $7.9975 and only ten days later saw price decline by a $1.60 in the July 2011 corn contract. The USDA report was a surprise and the market has dropped dramatically in light of the higher than expected planted acres and grain stocks. Ironically, this same report a year ago gave us the surprisingly bullish estimates in both the acreage and grain stocks that helped jumpstart the current price rally. Don’t believe all hope is lost due to the current USDA numbers. Remember, there is still a lot of summer left and a lot of potential extreme weather to drive volatility.

With the extremely high prices, we have been cautioning producers to not get too complacent. There are a lot of uncertainties in the potential of the crop currently in your fields that will impact price direction dramatically one way or the other. However, with the future prices still very profitable for 2011 and 2012 production, we encourage you to take a look at your breakeven and potential profitability and possibly make some sales accordingly. As we have seen over the last few weeks, high prices are not guaranteed and can deteriorate quickly. We would rather see you make sales proactively based on your profitability and not reactively based on market volatility.

I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome Brett Annexstad to Crystal Valley. Between Brett and me, we look forward to helping you with all of your grain marketing needs. If you have any questions feel free to call Brett at 507-381-2910 or me at 507-380-9959. We hope you enjoy the rest of your summer.